For the third time in a row, economic activity in the euro area has improved more than anticipated, with last quarter’s strength coming from unexpected gains in a number of major economies.
The EU statistics office Eurostat said seasonally adjusted Eurozone GDP expanded at a quarterly rate of 0.3% in Q4 to match the number from the previous quarter and outpace the market expectation of 0.2%.
Q4 growth in the euro area was up 1.3% from the year-earlier period, in-line with estimates but below the 1.4% increase in Q3.
Eurostat estimated GDP last year expanded 1.5% in the euro area – the best since 2022 – and 1.6% in the EU. %.
“The Eurozone economy seems set to show accelerated growth over the coming quarters, and if the European Commission’s economic sentiment indicator is anything to go by, we could already see this happening quite soon,” ING’s Bert Colijn said in a note. “January sentiment was buoyant and reached the highest level in three years, which was a broad-based improvement between countries and large sectors.”
That said, recent euro strength against the dollar, with the pair pushing well above 1.20 this week, had a some analysts and government officials warning about how the shift could slow European growth. EUR/USD ticked higher following the news to remain just above 1.19.
Big countries offset French weakness
Germany, Europe’s largest economy, surprised to the upside with 0.3% quarterly growth in the final three months of the year, handily beating the flat reading in Q3 and exceeding the 0.2% market estimate.
“The only reason to be pleased with this figure is because we've been more or less stuck at zero growth for the past three years,” wrote LBBW’s Oliver Niklasch. “At least there's justified hope that this will change in 2026. However, the result in the fourth quarter of 2025 shouldn't be just the icing on the cake, but rather a signal to finally begin the reforms needed for sustained growth.”
Growth in the euro area’s second-largest economy disappointed, with French GDP decelerating as expected to 0.2% from 0.5% in the previous three months.
Italy, third-largest in the euro area, reported a rise to 0.3% to beat the forecast of 0.2% and the 0.1% mark set in Q3.
Spain, the fourth-largest euro economy, continued to outpace the rest of the Big Four with 0.8% growth. This beat Q3’s 0.6%, which was also the estimate.
The Iberian Peninsula proved to be fertile ground, with Portugal also reporting a 0.8% rise in GDP last quarter.
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session_info.session_email = data.session_email;
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session_info.application_name = data.application_name;
session_info.http_referrer = data.http_referrer;
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function start_log() {
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session_start_time = session_start_date.getTime();
var months = ['Jan','Feb','Mar','Apr','May','Jun','Jul','Aug','Sep','Oct','Nov','Dec'];
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var msg_string = '';
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var current_time = current_date.getTime();
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session_info.curr_delay = (data.effective_latency / 1000).toFixed(2);
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session_info.effective_latency = data.effective_latency;
session_info.mean_opinion_score = data.mean_opinion_score;
session_info.restarts = data.restarts;
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data_array.mean_opinion_score = session_info.mean_opinion_score;
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data_array.restarts = session_info.restarts;
data_array.threshold = 0;
data_array.curr_delay = session_info.curr_delay;
data_array.session_length = session_info.session_length;
data_array.date = current_time;
data_array.webrtc_protocol = session_info.protocol;
data_array.ping_time = session_info.ping_time;
data_array.jitter = session_info.jitter;
data_array.packet_loss = session_info.packet_loss;
data_array.effective_latency = session_info.effective_latency;
data_array.mean_opinion_score = session_info.mean_opinion_score;
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socket_emits++;
if (socket_emits == 100) { socket_emits = 0; }
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- Portugal adds oomph to economy
- Full-year result best since ‘22
By Eric Culp, European Editor
LiveSquawk News
@eculp.bsky.social
@EricCulpLS
30 January 2026 | 11:10 GMT
For the third time in a row, economic activity in the euro area has improved more than anticipated, with last quarter’s strength coming from unexpected gains in a number of major economies.
The EU statistics office Eurostat said seasonally adjusted Eurozone GDP expanded at a quarterly rate of 0.3% in Q4 to match the number from the previous quarter and outpace the market expectation of 0.2%.
Q4 growth in the euro area was up 1.3% from the year-earlier period, in-line with estimates but below the 1.4% increase in Q3.
Eurostat estimated GDP last year expanded 1.5% in the euro area – the best since 2022 – and 1.6% in the EU. %.
“The Eurozone economy seems set to show accelerated growth over the coming quarters, and if the European Commission’s economic sentiment indicator is anything to go by, we could already see this happening quite soon,” ING’s Bert Colijn said in a note. “January sentiment was buoyant and reached the highest level in three years, which was a broad-based improvement between countries and large sectors.”
That said, recent euro strength against the dollar, with the pair pushing well above 1.20 this week, had a some analysts and government officials warning about how the shift could slow European growth. EUR/USD ticked higher following the news to remain just above 1.19.
Big countries offset French weakness
Germany, Europe’s largest economy, surprised to the upside with 0.3% quarterly growth in the final three months of the year, handily beating the flat reading in Q3 and exceeding the 0.2% market estimate.
“The only reason to be pleased with this figure is because we've been more or less stuck at zero growth for the past three years,” wrote LBBW’s Oliver Niklasch. “At least there's justified hope that this will change in 2026. However, the result in the fourth quarter of 2025 shouldn't be just the icing on the cake, but rather a signal to finally begin the reforms needed for sustained growth.”
Growth in the euro area’s second-largest economy disappointed, with French GDP decelerating as expected to 0.2% from 0.5% in the previous three months.
Italy, third-largest in the euro area, reported a rise to 0.3% to beat the forecast of 0.2% and the 0.1% mark set in Q3.
Spain, the fourth-largest euro economy, continued to outpace the rest of the Big Four with 0.8% growth. This beat Q3’s 0.6%, which was also the estimate.
The Iberian Peninsula proved to be fertile ground, with Portugal also reporting a 0.8% rise in GDP last quarter.
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